Doctor Who fans unite.
There are more of us now than ever before if the turn out at last night’s Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular at the TSB Bank Arena in Wellington is any measure.
The venue was almost packed to the rafters with fans of all ages, some dressed as character’s from the world’s longest running science fiction show which turned 50 last year.
If a picture can tell a thousand words then music transcends them – which is why this review could never do the concert justice. It was just sublime.
Composer Muray Gold, orchestrator and conductor Ben Foster and producer Paul Bullock had take some of the best video clips from the show, edited them together and projected them on a big screen and got the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to play some of Gold’s best pieces to it.
It didn’t matter one jot that it was not the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which has played the music for the series since 2005 when it was bought back to the television screen by Russell T Davies.
That is not that long ago, in the broad scheme of things, but the concert was a powerful trip down memory lane in which Foster brought memories back of some of the Doctor’s tightest jams as Cybermen, Daleks, Weeping Angels, The Silence and all manner of other alien menaces prowled the auditorium.
The first half of the show was so emotionally packed, the music so overpowering, that the hair on the back of my neck stood up on end. I couldn’t keep my eyes dry for the reminders of the companions who have stood by the Doctor’s side through thick and thin.
